Ownership Issue Proving A Thorn For Reds

The off field uncertainty surrounding Barnsley Football Club is believed to be one of the main reasons why both Sean O’Driscoll and Terry Butcher declined to take the vacant managerial position at Oakwell.

The Reds have been the subject of takeover talk since mid September but although there has been “tentative enquires” put to the Oakwell board, nobody has yet put in a concrete offer. It is no secret that current Reds owner Patrick Cryne is looking to sell the club due to ill health and the fact he has a fraud court case pending relating to his former ownership of IT company iSoft.

Cryne is hoping to sell the club for around £2m or £10m if it includes the vast 34 acres of land that surrounds the Oakwell ground, which he purchased from Barnsley Council back in 2005, but it is this delay that persuaded both O’Driscoll and Butcher to steer away from the Championship’s bottom club. Even offering to double Butcher’s Inverness wages proved not enough.

Meanwhile rumours that former England manager’s Sven Goran Eriksson’s agent has been in touch are believed to be VERY wide of the mark.